Starting Early

Should Christopher decide to make sailing a part of his life, and should someone someday ask him how long he has been sailing, he will be able to say, "I first held a jib sheet for a tack, and had my hands on the helm, when I was six months old."





Of course he was chewing on them, but we don't need to tell anyone that.

Christopher was also responsible for our early start today, waking at his accustomed 6:30 AM Indy time. That, according to Nomad standard marina time, was actually 5:30 AM. Which meant the whole crew was up, fed, and ready to take advantage of the early morning breeze. In fact, we enjoyed a near perfect sail, making close to 6 knots on the drifter with yesterday's reef shaken out of the main.



Brian spent some time on the helm, Kristin and Christopher alternately laughed and napped in the V-berth, and a wonderful time was had by all. I was also pretty pleased that Deb and I made a good call on the winds for the day. Instead of being stranded far from home when the calm descended we had sailed up, down, back, forth and around, ending up just off the point when sailboating turned into drifting aimlessly. Being in a good place we tossed the hook for lunch and also had a nice visit over Kristin and Brian's future plans. Plans which include moving east toward salt water! Which means Deb and I will not have to find a way to sail a boat to Indy.

After hanging on the hook for a while I noticed a bunch of boats heading into the marina. A quick check of the RADAR (thank you Verizon Wireless) showed some ugly weather inbound. Hook up, to the pump out, on the slip, packed up, cars loaded, boat closed - all before the rains arrived. (Not much before, but a minute is as good as an hour.) It's always good to start early.